History of mediæval art . his branch of art. The descriptions of real statues are scanty;we have little information concerning such doll-like figures of paint- * History of Ancient Art, by Dr. Franz von Reber, p. 136. SCULPTURE. 197 ed wood as the portraits of Khomarujah, his wives, and the singersof his court, which stood in a magnificent hall of his palace at Cairo,or of that portrait statue of the beautiful wife of Abderrahman II.,which was placed in the Palace of Az Zahra near Cordova. Wehave no detailed descriptions of the female statues in Al MotamedsPalace of Seradjib at Silves, while t
History of mediæval art . his branch of art. The descriptions of real statues are scanty;we have little information concerning such doll-like figures of paint- * History of Ancient Art, by Dr. Franz von Reber, p. 136. SCULPTURE. 197 ed wood as the portraits of Khomarujah, his wives, and the singersof his court, which stood in a magnificent hall of his palace at Cairo,or of that portrait statue of the beautiful wife of Abderrahman II.,which was placed in the Palace of Az Zahra near Cordova. Wehave no detailed descriptions of the female statues in Al MotamedsPalace of Seradjib at Silves, while the knight of bronze upon thegable of the Palace of King Badis in Granada appears to have beenan architectural ornament, after the manner of an acroterion, ratherthan an independent work of sculpture. The representations of ani-mals always have a more or less decorative or heraldic character,even when not serving practical uses, for instance, as gargoyles orthe supports of fountains,—not being mainly remarkable for their. Fig. 103.—Marble Relief from Granada. material value, like the golden lion with eyes of jewels in the Palaceof the Water-wheel near Cordova,— or not being mere curiositieswhich, from the manner of their execution, are beneath our presentconsideration. This last was evidently the character of the twelveknights which, at the end of every hour, came out from as manyniches of the clock sent as a gift from Haroun al Raschid to Charle-magne, as also of the singing birds of gold and silver in the treeof precious metal which stood in the audience hall of the caliphMoktadir Billah. Other representations of the figures of men and animals were soentirely of a decorative character that the patterns with which theywere combined were of more important dimensions, as well as moresuccessful in artistic respects. In the relief from Granada, shown 198 MOHAMMEDAN ART. in Fig. 103, the symmetrical arrangement of the forms is very no-ticeable, and the same is the case with t
Size: 2426px × 1030px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyorkharperbros
